The political scenario in Tamil Nadu has started moving faster with the declaration of the RK Nagar assembly constituency by-poll on Sunday. The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) which suffered a major jolt with the defeat of its candidate E Madhusudanan in the hands of TTV Dinakaran, the rebel AIADMK candidate who romped home with a massive majority, struck back on Monday by ousting nine prominent figures owing allegiance to V K Sasikala, the jailed aide to late J Jayalalithaa, the AIADMK supremo.
…backroom maneuverings are on in various places including New Delhi, Parappana Agrahara Jail in Bangalore, Mannargudi, Gopalapuram and CIT Colony in Chennai to sort out the imbroglio that has immobilized politics for a while in Tamil Nadu.
The Dinakaran camp remained silent throughout the Christmas day. But distant thunders could be heard in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which played a game of political hara-kiri by transferring its votes en-masse to Dinakaran with the expectation that it could hasten up the process of disintegration of the AIADMK by the New Year eve. What stood out on Monday was the news that all is not well on the DMK-led front.
The day began on an unexpected note for the DMK. Dr. Subramanian Swamy, MP and senior BJP leader told Team PGurus that the victory of Dinakaran in the RK Nagar by-poll would lead to a patch up in the AIADMK. “Now that the election is over and Dinakaran got elected, it is time for the two camps, led by Sasikala and Panneerselvam respectively to resolve their difference of opinion and get united. The Amma rule on which they swear day in and day out could be made possible only if they sink their differences and work together,” said Dr. Swamy who had exhorted the voters in the constituency to vote for Dinakaran. He also said that he himself would take initiatives to bring the factions together[1].
Dinakaran seems to have won the R K Nagar election caused by JJ death. I expect to see the two ADMK factions now to unite for 2019 LS poll
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) December 24, 2017
At the same time, the 2017 Christmas gave enough indications of a political tsunami in the DMK camp. The en-masse transfer of the DMK votes to Dinakaran has created a furore in the Dravidian party. M K Stalin, the de facto chief of the party claimed that the RK Nagar result was a Himalayan defeat for the Election Commission. But his party colleague and Rajya Sabha member TKS Elangovan said that the result was a big blow to the DMK. “We need to plug loopholes in our strategy,” said Elangovan, who has major differences of opinion with the Thalapathy (Tamil for Commander. Stalin wants the cadre to address him Thalapathy)[2].
Taken aback by the sharp differences in the party coming out in the open, K Anbazhagan, the 95-year old general secretary of the DMK has convened the executive committee of the party for December 29. It has to be noticed that the 2G Spectrum Case verdict has not gone down well with a section of the DMK. The absence of Dayanidhi Maran and Kalanidhi Maran from the reception hosted to A Raja and Kanimozhi at Chennai airport and the Gopalapuram residence of Karunanidhi on their arrival after the acquittal by the CBI Special Court is being seen as a part of the turf war between various factions in the K-clan.
In another development, the Viduthalai Chiruthai Katchi (VCK), an outfit of Dalits has expressed the party’s ire over the bulk transfer of DMK votes to Dinakaran. Thol Thirumavalavan, the VCK leader in an exclusive interview to B Kolappan of The Hindu not only lambasted the DMK leadership (read M K Stalin) for the poor performance of the party candidate in the by-poll but also said that Dinakaran is the real successor to late Jayalalithaa[3].
It is almost certain that Thirumavalavan is in the process of finding out the possibility of getting accommodated in the Dinakaran camp in the eventuality of him being snubbed by the DMK. Stalin has no love lost for VCK or Thirumavalavan and he has made it known on many occasions. But the icing on the political Christmas cake served after the R K Nagar by-poll was an observation made by H Raja, the national secretary of the BJP. “The DMK was forced to forfeit its security deposit in the RK Nagar by-poll because of its alliance with the VCK led by Thol Thirumavalavan,” said Raja while speaking to Team PGurus on Monday.
“You see it for yourself. The VCK had forged an alliance with the DMK for the 2001 Tamil Nadu assembly election. But the DMK suffered a major defeat in that election. Since both the DMK and the AIADMK did not accommodate the VCK in their fronts during the 2004 Lok Sabha election, the party formed a separate front by name People’s Alliance and got trounced in the election,” pointed out Raja.
The VCK contested the 2006 assembly election in the company of Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK. But the front failed miserably though there wasn’t much anti-incumbency factor against the AIADMK at that time. In the 2009 Lok Sabha election, Thirumavalavan was accommodated by the DMK in its front and got scraped through with a reduced margin. Thirumavalavan got elected as a member of parliament in that election. But the assembly election of 2011 saw the DMK front in which the VCK was one of the constituents getting trounced by the AIADMK. Though Thirumavalavan continued in the DMK front for the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the DMK-led front got drowned in Tsunami Jaya. The 2016 assembly election saw VCK forging an alliance with Vijayakanth’s DMDK. The result was a political catastrophe for the alliance. Poor Vijayakanth, who was projected as the chief ministerial candidate of the front lost not only his security deposit but also his hard-earned prestige and goodwill.
“Remember, any political party forming an alliance with the VCK is doing it at its own peril. I am reminded of a term Caveat Emptorium (a store in which buyer should be aware of what he/ she purchases) when leaders of political parties speak of forming an alliance with VCK and Thirumavalavan. It is a sure recipe to disaster” chuckled Raja.
This is the story that has happened in Tamil Nadu till late Monday. But backroom maneuverings are on in various places including New Delhi, Parappana Agrahara Jail in Bangalore, Mannargudi, Gopalapuram and CIT Colony in Chennai to sort out the imbroglio that has immobilized politics for a while in Tamil Nadu.
References:
[1] https://twitter.com/Swamy39/status/944795101326225409
[2] http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/bypoll-result-a-defeat-for-ec-not-dmk-says-stalin/article22272120.ece – Dec 25, 2017, The Hindu
[3] http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/aiadmk-will-rally-behind-ttv/article22272742.ece – Dec 25, 2017, The Hindu
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It is very unfortunate that the crusader against corruption Dr.Swamy had to work with Sasikala group, which had almost looted the state in the name of Jaya, the former Chief Minister. It is a known fact that Dinakaran won the seat by bribing the voters which cost him a meagre portion of the amassed wealth by Sasi group.
Are you same team of “UNREAL TIMES”, which I liked most?
Your coverage is good. Best wishes.